Wednesday morning mishmash

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 Hi guys,

1. President Obama’s fiscal policy speech is at 1:30.  You can watch it, well, everywhere, but the best place is here.

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2. Tell me again who won the budget fight?

ABC News: Most People Won’t Notice These Big Budget Cuts

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3. Tell me again that the auto-industry bailout was a mistake. (Thanks, Eclectablog): 

Forecast: Detroit 3 to boost Michigan job levels by 34% 

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The Detroit Three could add as many as 35,000 new jobs by 2015, with virtually all of them landing in Michigan as the Detroit Three continue to consolidate their operations here, Sean McAlinden, senior economist for the Center for Automotive Research, said today.

After slashing more than 230,000 U.S. jobs between 2000 and 2009 as they repeatedly restructured, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler are now well positioned to add jobs as the economy recovers.

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4. Well, he told you not to give them the keys back, didn’t he?

PPP: Bad news for Congressional Republicans

PPP’s newest national poll finds that after a little more than 3 months in charge House Republicans have fallen so far out of favor with the American public that it’s entirely possible Democrats could take control of the House back next year.

43% of voters think that House Republicans are doing a worse job now than the Democrats did, compared to only 36% who think the GOP has brought an improvement. 19% think things are about the same. 62% of voters thinking that the Republicans have either made things worse or brought no improvement to an already unpopular Congress does not bode particularly well for the party.

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The key to this strong movement back toward the Democrats right now is the same as the key to the strong movement away from the Democrats last year- fickle independents quickly growing unhappy with the party in power. Exit polls showed independents supporting the GOP by a 19 point margin last year at 56-37. Now only 30% of those voters think that the Republican controlled House is moving things in the right direction, compared to 44% who think things were better with the Democrats. Given those numbers it’s not much of a surprise that independents now say they’d vote Democratic for the House by a 42-33 margin if these was an election today, representing a 28 point reversal in a span of just five months.
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One thing is very much for certain- it’s not 2010 anymore.

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5. Things everyone must read:

* The amazing Reid Report on “Facts lost in ‘hair on fire’ budget compromise headlines”.

* Rootless‘ brilliant exposure – and not for the first time – of  the “Left” true face.

* Eclectablog’s excellent piece: Preemptive whinging is the new norm for the “professional left”

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6. Thank to all those who pointed me to Jay Carney’s briefing from yesterday, especially his answer about PBO’s leadership style and thinking. It’s a beautiful answer that gently puts the hair-on-fire media to shame (It starts around the 28:40 mark):

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216 thoughts on “Wednesday morning mishmash”

  1. Thanks BWD! I look forward to seeing our President’s speech this afternoon.

  2. Good Morning to all!! Congrats on being first hopefruit2 🙂

    I had an early morning conference call, so I thought I’d check out if BWD had an early morning post 🙂

    I was thinking the other day that the PL have really jumped the shark (and even that phrase has become too old).

    They have lost ALL credibility, due to their knee jerk reaction and hateful instinctive thinking. They’ve lost all reason and rationality.

    So I’ve come to realize, you can’t expect anything good out of that group. They are so filled with their beliefs, it’s almost become a cult “Must hate anything Obama”. So let’s just ignore them. They are simply not worth our effort. And quite frankly a majority of Americans don’t like that extremism.

    I’d rather focus our effort on fighting the GOP mis-information. Because all too often they get the benefit of the doubt from the media as “telling the truth”.

    And on a happier note, I was very excited to get my 2012 bumber sticker 🙂

    I got my call and made my first donation for our President’s 2012 blow-out re-election! hahaha!

    I hope everyone has a wonderful day! Can’t wait to see the video of the President this evening!

  4. And on a happier note, I was very excited to get my 2012 bumber sticker

    That was fast!

  5. Good morning everyone:)!! I’m with you, pinkbunny. Let’s ignore them.WE have been paying attention to the screaming, but the rest of the country that isn’t politically involved, could care less. They only know what they actually SEE happening.If we give them the time of day, it would be giving their hair on fire ideas validity…and they are anything but.I’ve never seen a bunch of whiney babies in my entire life.If they were MY children, they’d be put in time out and told they could come back and talk to me when they can quit whining and have a conversation worth having.Seriously.Want a little cheese with that whine?I hate that entitlement attitude from ANYONE,and they seem to feel that the President was elected to simply serve their needs, not the rest of the country.Screw them.

  7. Thanks BWD great reading. I wish every one, especially the PL could hear Carney’s message about leadership, sadly they will never hear it. I am loving the push-back by those on the blogroll.

  9. I can no longer support Democrats or the so-called “base”. They no longer represent me or my views. I’m sick of the Congressional Dems sitting idly by while the president is slammed and blamed for every damn thing. I’m sick of the “progressive” left who do nothing but whine, complain and call names. For two years I’ve put up with this shit and I’m tired of it.

    I will support our president and make sure I am involved in GOTV activities. But the Democrats in Congress? No. I can’t support a party that is wishy washy in their support. Until they make changes in their behavior and start going on TV to push back at the bullshit being leveled at the president instead of piling on, I’m done.

  10. I’ll have to set the DVR for this speech(the one “they” have their panties in a twist for already)Can’t wait to hear the long term vision and intelligent tweeking that needs to be done to preserve Medicare/Medicaid for generations to come.”They” better have some good healthcare,someone might have a coronary today.

  11. Yea.Yea.I got an email from them complaining about “you know who” not doing anything.Delete.

  12. Bill Press was on the radio this morning bragging how he took on Carney at the briefing yesterday. I guess he needs more liberal/progressive street cred or something.

    By the way, thanks BWD for noting the time the president will speak today. I’ve made a note of it.

  14. Ever since the Progressive Change campaign committee came into existence all they have done is attack the President. I’m beginning to think they are part of the Koch cabal.

    By the way enjoyed your post.

  16. When do we start hearing all the “This is what the President MUST say today” shuck? Not that I want to hear a word of it, but I know it is coming again. Amazing how every pundit could be a better President than the President, and, more amazing, how much they would fek it up if they were.
    Today we will hear PBO’s goal, and if we keep that goal in mind, we will comfortably know where we are headed on this budget battle. Raising the debt ceiling is a minor distraction along the way. Remember he doesn’t have to do a thing to get taxes raised as that will happen automatically if he does nothing to stop it. It may, however, be a good bargaining chip in redoing the tax schedules and regs and deductions, which sorely need to be redone.
    He said he will keep SS safe. He may use Medicare and Medicaid as a bargaining chip in getting more for ObamaCares.
    Have faith and ignore the screaming.

  18. I unsubscribed immediately when I got that PL email, with a mostly polite explanation, that I am not “disappointed” with Obama one iota, that they are so off the mark and doing as much damage to our goals as the tea party and how are they going to like this country when this extremist Repub Party is wholly in charge—-which is what they’re aiding and abetting.

  19. And President polls 30 points higher than Congressional Dems because he is willing to stand up and make decisions and take the heat, whereas the Congressional Dems don’t want to make any decisions – instead always crying that the President isn’t telling them what to think and thine whine about it on national programs.

    Nobody likes whiners. But they haven’t seemed to figure that out yet.

  20. Good morning everyone! This is a very special day. I turn 65 today. Now I have insurance finally and I am now on SS. I am officially a senior citizen.
    Thank you BWD for this great mishmash. I no longer pay any attention to any pundits.

    I am going to have a great day. I hope everyone has one to.

  21. Does someone have an explanation for the reason only Repubs are on my TV news shows every day? The Today Show was featuring space cadet, Michelle Bachmann, and so I switched to GMA, and there was Paul Ryan. I have complained to the Today Show hundreds of times, asking if they only know Republicans and why aren’t Dems being given equal air time. Do the networks only invite Republicans, are their corporations demanding it, or do no Democrats push themselves forward for appearances? It’s a big mystery to me. There are a lot of Dems who are well-spoken and persuasive, and I never see them on any of these shows. What is the deal?

  24. Morning and bless everyone on this Carolina blue skies morning. 😀
    Everyday my love for JAY grows more and more. I find myself watching these briefings when I can catch it or watch it on wh site later in the evenings. He handles the press corpse wonderfully.
    Great informative mish mash BWD. Thank you for your keeping us factually informed. 😀

  26. Awww Happy birthday. *sings happy birthday to you, soulful Stevie Wonder version* bless 😀

  27. Good Morning to all, I just want to say PBO’S speech will be out of the park on facts and vision. As in Jay Carney’s press conference where it showed the true “NO DRAMA OBAMA METHOD OF HANDLING DUMB QUESTIONS”. He also showed how to carry out the complete orders of the President of not telling about the speech before it is given. The press core can’t stand the fact they are not the ones who run the message for the President as they see fit.

  29. Good Morning Everyone!

    I posted this at OFA and wanted to share it with you here:

    Pardon my early morning vent but I have just a little commentary this morning since there is so much speculation by progressives about the President’s speech today.

    If I had one wish going into this election cycle it would be that progressive/dems would learn to trust this President. I wish they would stop jumping to conclusion and riding the coattails of these so-called progressive groups who throw ultimatums out at this President before he even gets a chance to open his mouth.

    We have so much work to do in order to re-elect this President and the loudest voices on our side make that job much harder. I feel like I am constantly having to have to re-invent the wheel every time policy is enacted. The online and media progressives work themselves into a frenzy and bring quite a few people along with them and then we have to venture out and dispel their half truths and misinformation.

    Granted this is a small part of the electorate but their misinformation does indeed filter out into the public. Remember this…if you repeat a lie often enough it will take hold.

    Right now we should be building on what was started in 2008. Convincing people to get onboard as activist based on the Presidents many accomplishments. This election was never going to be easy because far too many people are still out of work, have not recovered their value in their homes and are still feeling the affects of a terrible economic crisis. That was a given but to have to convince progressives how urgent it is to re-engage and become active in this Presidents election is a piece of work and I cannot blame that on anything the Republicans have said or done. No I put that squarely on the Professional Left.

    We have a big job cut out for us and I hope everyone is up to the challenge.

  30. Time for me to unsubscribe/send to spam folder.

    These jokers (along with much of the noisy Entitled Left) failed in the 2010 elections, so now they have to justify their existence somehow — and try to bring in the money somehow. I guess they’ve gambled on Obama-bashing.

    They’re wasting their time. Next!

  32. Thanks, Deb. I appreciate that.

    And your assessment is sadly one that’s been running through many of our minds, I’m afraid. It’s frightening to be in a position where you have to wonder about whether or not a group calling themselves ‘bold progressives’ might actually be a stealth, false-flag group, isn’t it?

  34. Carney highlighted that political courage is also going after your parties sacred cows – I think that’s a tip off as to what to expect from the speech this afternoon.

    Defense Budget slashing(100B+/year) + end of Bush Extra Tax Cuts for Rich + new simplified and loophole free tax code + Medicare reform + medicaid reform + SS fixes = Presidential Address this afternoon would be my math.

  35. What really and truly bums me out is that WE have to waste time now, too, fighting them and their harmful-to-the-fight propaganda. We should be spending every ounce of energy every minute of the day fighting the conservatives and, instead, we have to shift some of our power to the left deflector shields.

    Puh. Thet. ICK!

  36. Dotster, That is the method of keeping the fires burning with one sided facts.They take politics as a game one side on top and the other has to play catch up all the time. Just as they only give out incomplete poll facts. The MSM stoke the fires just to keep their ratings up. It is a corporate world totally.

  38. Hearing you loud and clear, Pinkbunny. The hyperventilation about the PL is becoming as tiresome as is theirs.

  40. You know, they would do so much better if they just came out and said, “Mr. President, we do appreciate what you have done and tried to do. But for us, we want you to go even further, so yes, we are somewhat disappointed. Tell us what we need to do to help you get even more done.”

    But that is too sensible, so forget it.

  41. well HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND MAY YOU BE BLESSED WITH MANY MORE.Now you can live in the glow of the sweet years of life and reflection.

  42. Yeah, I was wondering how he would handle that. He played part, and only part of the clip, which had Carney very calmly saying Bill had his facts wrong, and then described Carney as exploding at him. He was a big Clinton supporter in the primaries and probably thinks Clinton would be far more progressive than Obama when, if anything, she would be far more centrist.

  43. The problem, though, is if the Dems, even the wishy-washy ones don;t regain control of the House and strengthen their hold on the Senate, the President is not really going to be able to do those things he wants. He’ll be in Clinton’s position which ended up in slashing of welfare, NAFTA and the repeal of Glass-Steigel.

  44. Yeah, rootless_e’s piece is remarkable. It’s now on us to move from describing the problem to helping to solve the problem. We, as a netroots group, need to identify ways of pushing back and reversing the “conveyor belt”. It’s going to take something unconventional because all of the conventional modes are clogged with frustrati and with media who benefit from making sure every leader is seen as under assault, even from his own party and political compadres.

    This has me thinking…

  45. In case you think there are no new developments in Wisconsin after the recent vote fraud revelations, think again:

    “This morning, a criminal complaint filed in circuit court alleges that William Gardner, the president and CEO of Wisconsin & Southern Railroad Co., skirted campaign donation laws by soliciting employees to give to Scott Walker’s campaign and then reimbursing them, in what amounts to two felony counts. It has also come out that Walker’s campaign then reimbursed Gardner and seven additional railroad employees to the tune of $43,800, which indicates a criminal probe is imminent of Walker’s campaign.”

    “If the GAB and DA can prove their allegations and the probe extends to Walker’s campaign itself, it suggests that Walker and his gang are not only corrupt, but inept criminals who have brazenly broken the law at every turn in an executive power grab that will go down in history as an example of what not to do.”

    http://www.politicususa.com/en/criminal-probe-scott-walker

    Wisconsin can write a book…no, a series of books on political corruption at this point with more to come.

  46. Exactly, if the strong Dems really got out there and gave the public the facts, the Republican Party would practically disappear except in the South and a few of the mountain states. There would be no real challenges in ternms of elections and stuff. When you consider how non-liberal the liberal MSM is, it shows how out of thouch the Republcians are that their approval ratings are once again way below the Dems.

  47. I would rather listen to right wing radio than to listen to Bill Press. He is a complete disappointment. I know he only allows anti-Obama callers through because that’s all I hear. I only listen to Stephanie Miller and Randi Rhoads who are the only ones who have sense this is about America’s future and 2012. Thom Hartmann and all the rest are such a disappointment. I no longer watch any of the MSNBC shows. They can go off the air as far as I’m concerned. That includes Rachel Maddow.

  48. Of course, just mentioning Medicare and Medicaid reforms will spark a firestorm of protest, even though it is rather obvious that some reform is necessary and there is a lot that can be done without impacting the actual care and benefits of the recipients.
    It is interesting about the whole death panel debate last year. The concept of paying a doctor to actual consult with his/her patient so they can make informed end of life decisions seems like a no-brainer. Plus, it definitely impacts cost.
    There is a health system in LaCrosse Wisconsin that requires their doctiors to have these discussions with all patients over 65 at least every 5 years and more frequently if the helath of the patients deteriorates.
    They did a study of “last year of life” medical costs and found that after instituting this plab, which actually gave the patient say in their treatment, costs for that last year dropped over 30%.

    Minor reform, which actually costs little, would save millions of dollars. Of course it makes sense so the republicans are against it.

  49. Good morning everyone. Thanks BWD for pointing out the leadership style portion of yesterday’s press conference. It seems so obvious to me that the president has always looked to outcomes and not the 24 news cycle of “who won the day” when it comes to leadership that I wouldn’t think it needed to be spelled out but then I remember we are talking about the press and I see the necessity. I don’t know if it was Bush and his bullying ways or just a press corps who wants more theatrics to keep their programming exciting or what, but it is hard to understand why people are having such a hard time seeing leadership to mean leading people to do what you want them to do instead of posturing for the cameras, making demands and failing more often than winning but having lots of soundbites on the way to the loss.

    I mean look at Douglas MacArthur. He was considered a good leader at times. But when he let his ego get in the way of the goals he was supposed to be achieving, he fell from glory and stopped having people follow his lead. Or Abraham Lincoln. I can’t imagine we would still be memorizing the Gettysburg Address if it was a speech filled with “red meat” about the terrible traitors of the Confederacy and how we needed to crush them as so many today would undoubtedly call for. I’m sure they would be calling Lincoln a wimp and spineless and asking why he isn’t leading.

    We seem to have lost the actual meaning of leadership and instead have substituted rabble rousing. It’s easy to give a fire and brimstone speech that fires up your base but it isn’t always the right thing to do if you are trying to achieve specific goals. Leadership is knowing when to give that speech and when to gently lead people in the direction you want them to go. The president is a master at understanding which times are which.

  50. As much as I love this country, its voters have the shortest memories of any in the entire world. How they thought voting GOP would “fix things” after 8 failed years of Bush is beyond me. Now they’re having buyer’s remorse after 3 months? SHOCKER!

  51. mtmarilyn, Happy Birthday and congratulations on hitting that wonderful mildstone of offcially becoming a SS. I stil have a decade to go, wish me luck. Lol

  52. Happy Birthday MTMarilyn,

    My you have a wonderful day and retirement! This should be a worry free time for seniors to enjoy their golden years and not full of uncertainty these teabaggers and rethugs are trying to impose on you. They will pay in 2012.

  53. The question I asked yesterday has not gotten a response and I am a curious sort, so allow me to ask again please.

    One thing leaps out to me in the cuts agreed upon to keep the government funded “Another $3.5 billion comes from unused spending authority from a program providing health care to children of lower-income families.”

    I am curious as to why this money had not been spent when there is an overwhelming demand for such programs. Can you explain what prevented those funds from being used to help out those most in need? Making sure the money gets where its needed is critical, what can be done in the future to insure that the money in the pipeline reaches those it is intended to help?

    Thanks very much
    Jake

  54. Super comment. I specially like the comment about Lincoln. I never thought of it that way, but you are absolutely correct. Lincoln probably faced as much hostility, if not more, than Obama is, also from both sides.
    Imagine what Republicans would do to an Eisenhower today with his speech warning about the military industrial complex or sending in troops into Little Rock to make sure a student could go to school.

    In fact, imagine what they woudl do to a Reagan today when he supported increasing taxes to deal with a budget deficit. (I wish Obama would bring that up, how even the Republican god knew that taxes needed to be raised.

  56. 9/11. And that isn’t meant to be snark. There was always a sense that if 9/11 hadn’t happened the economy wouldn’t have gone bad. The whole concept of what really happened in the banking industry was too compelx for people to understand and how the Bush administrationa nd Republicans facilitated it. Plus, the republicans actually counted on voters believeing that it was Obama who bailed out the banks, not Bush. They tapped into the populist anger that should have been focused on the Republicans. Dems did an awful job of talking about how Bush started TARP, but Obama fixed it so the banks would pay back the money and it actually turned a profit for the government.

  57. To be fair to Hartmann, he hasn’t been too critical of the budget deal. He has been a little more realistic this time around.

  58. They have said so many times pre-emptively that the president is going to cave, betray them, whatever that the idea of caving and betrayal becomes a belief about his character. Even though, every time they have to walk back the caving, betrayal when it doesn’t actually end up happening. They don’t remember it as happening every time. Instead they remember the weeks leading up to the event that was filled with comments about him caving and betraying us all and then only a day or two at most where people talked about the fact that what everyone was predicting, that caving and betrayal stuff, didn’t actually happen. So it gets remembered as weeks of betrayal, one day of not. And that cements the theme in their head that he usually caves and betrays the left. So then they feel justified in continuing the meme over the next issue because it is “his pattern” in their minds. It doesn’t matter that the weeks of whining were over something that never happened, the many days and many rants just reinforces that imagery in their minds.

    And unfortunately, the sheer volume of the erroneous whining is so overwhelming in regard to the “okay, nevermind” corrections in volume that it sets up the same type of impression in the minds of people who read their tripe as well. So the president gets smeared with an unfair image by people who nearly always after the fact have to admit they were wrong in those other more prolific articles they wrote but the image is already out there and can’t be taken away entirely. Not that they try too hard, because as soon as the next issue comes up they go right back at it once more.

  59. Dear BWD,

    I read your comment about the nasty emails you are getting and I just want to say how much I appreciate you as well as all your other followers. I am so grateful for the work you do informing us about how the president is working tirelessly for ALL americans. True PBO supporters are thankful for you and all that you do. The picture of him looking so tired and obviously thinking of the pending debt ceiling vote with these teabaggers playing chicken with our economy and our lives.

    Thank you and God Bless you!

  60. I think we may just start hearing a lot more about raising revenue and how taxes aren’t always evil in this next round of budget talks. Most people understand that increasing revenue is half of the picture and it’s not all about cutting spending all the time. And they especially understand that taking things away from them so that the rich guy in town can have more money is unfair so taking a bit back from the rich guy isn’t going to be an unpopular way to raise that revenue.

  62. AS Saint Roscoe said yesterday, the phrase “shared sacrifice” should be used a lot. Right now it is just the middle class and the poor being asked to make sacrifices.

  63. You mention recent vote fraud revelations. Are you talking about the county clerk who “found” 7000 votes for Judge Prosser ? Has this been proven to be fraud instead of a mistake ? ( Oh I would LOVE that because the circumstances make me VERY suspicious…)

  64. I know. He even ended the show talking about it which makes me wonder if he feels slighted by what Carney said or is just trying to score points with the extreme left.
    I listen to him off and on. No longer as regularly as I used to but his show precedes Stephanie’s so I caught the tail end of his today.

    He’s too whiny for me.

  65. Thank you everyone! It was is great to have such great friends. This is such a special place.

    I am passionate about saving SS and Medicare for all those younger. I will support the President in his vision. I know that he knows more than me and I trust him.

    I am fired up and ready to go!

  66. That’s a precise description of the doctrine of preemptive criticism and how it is used to create a very false, fact-free picture of President Obama (one which matches exactly with teaOP smears of weak and feckless presidential leadership) under the guise of activism or moving the Overton Window.

    The solution is precisely what we’re doing here: creating a media filter for this type of noise. For the past few days, the budget discussion here has been calm, factual, rational, and the speculation has been noted as precisely that: speculation. None of that hair on fire stuff. I’m really glad to have had this wonderful option of reading this hugely significant story here.

  67. Same here; I only really listen to Stephanie and Rhandi’s show now. Especially Randi, who has the good sense to know where to aim her fire. Considering there are limited progressive voices on the radio, you’d think they would at least consider not being so gloom and doom all.the.damn.time. It’s no wonder we fail in that endeavor.

    They’ve lost me as a regular listener.

  68. ““Mr. President, we do appreciate what you have done and tried to do. But for us, we want you to go even further, so yes, we are somewhat disappointed. Tell us what we need to do to help you get even more done.””

    PERFECT!

  69. By The Associated Press The Associated Press –

    Facing criticism over the amount of taxes it pays, General Electric announced it will repay its entire $3.2 billion tax refund to the US Treasury on April 18.

    GE uses a series of foreign tax havens that the company says are legal and that led to an enormous refund for the 2010 tax year.

    The company earned $11 billion in 2010 on revenue of $150 billion.

    The company, based in Fairfield, Conn., plans to phase out tax havens over 5 years and said it will create one job in the US for each new job it creates overseas.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110413/ap_on_re_us/us_ge_tax_refund

  70. I know and I think I realize that this is my intense anger and frustration speaking.

    You’re right. Point taken. I got it.

  71. Russel Simmons has a rant on HP, (yeah, I know) accusing the president of not paying attention to the poor, and selling out. This is my response to him:

    3 things disappoint me about this article.

    Most of the budget cuts were already approved during the Democratic congress. Why? Because these programs were running a SURPLUS. It is an old accounting trick, if you don’t use it, take it out, and make it seem as if you are budget cutting. The Republican­s got played, and it is unfortunat­e that progressiv­e websites are now making money off of half truths and misinforma­tion. Don’t fall for it Russell. Many African American bloggers are doing a wonderful job of giving out factual informatio­n, and are not money driven.

    http://blo­g.reidrepo­rt.com/201­1/04/facts­-on-budget­-compromis­e/

    What is also disturbing is that your rant should have been address to the Democratic congress, especially the congressio­nal black caucus, who has been a no show. Mayor Vincent Gray of D.C., was arrested yesterday to protest cuts to DC. Eleanor Holmes Norton was asked by a CNN reporter why she failed to show up at the rally. She gave a mumbling answer that she didn’t think it would be appropriat­e, because it was a “district” issue. Hello? You represent the district on a federal level. Could it have been that you were too busy accepting an award at a school banquet?

    Know why the Democratic congress is a no show Russell? This new crop of “progressi­ves” who threaten to withhold their vote, when they feel that their progressiv­e virginity has been violated. In politics, and well as in “life” sometimes you don’t have the luxury of choosing the best option, but the better of two crappy options. Allowing the government to shut down, would have hurt the people that you care about the most. I don’t think it is fair for you to expect the soldier in Afghanista­n to worry if his wife would receive his payroll check, while you attend the BET awards.

    These people who were elected to serve their constituen­ts, are all too happy for the president to do their work and fall on his presidenti­al sword. I have yet to see one of these congressme­n who are going to be the face against Paul Ryan. As Rev. Sharpton said it best, it is not the President Job.

    And complainin­g that the president didn’t attend Sergeant Shrivers funeral, personally­, is a little nit picking.

    Bob Cesna had a wonder piece in HP, warning against progressiv­es arguing without facts. If we allow this to happen, we are no better than Fox news. Sadly, he is proving to be right.

  72. Lilaf1, this is a great post.Imo, the most crazy factor in this so called leadership problem they say our President is suppose to have stars as follows;A lot of the right wing and the pl have this mentality that started a long time ago.That is what I call the John Wayne effect as you hear a lot here comes the Calvary and Charge way of thinking. We all remember Bush during 9/11 with the bull horn at ground zero and all of that.The Msm have this idea that if you don’t see fire in yours eyes over a issue you are a wimp. But if you look at history the Quiet and slow to burn are the ones that win the fights. Calculation wins every time over running around screaming what you are going to do. It is like a good football game a cool headed quarterback wins a lot of times over the flash in the pan type. A slow cooked well seasoned meal always lasts longer then the quick fry.So if we all do our true following of our long think slow to burn President who is blazing a true course for our country we will be alright.

  73. How can he tal when he is all in the black community pushing his phony credit card, something we don’t need, what exactly is he doing when all of his staff is white. Hypocrite

  74. Bringing up Reagan is a GREAT idea. You’re right. Time to emphasize how extremist the GOP has become.

  75. That would be a perfect way to do it, but I think half of these people are simply on automatic complaint mode. They don’t know how to be satisfied or appreciative of anything. They’re itching for a fight no matter what,so they make nasty comments about him all day long–they’re the “Gliberals.”

    The other half of the PL are the trolls who stir up trouble on behalf of the billionaires out there. They’re the “Fiberals.”

  76. Good morning everyone!

    I am really impressed with Jay Carney these days. He has really grown into the position and has found his footing. I thing becoming closer to the President and gaining a stronger grasp of all the details he has to command at that podium is really evident. I watch the DPBs every day and yesterday’s discussion about PBO’s approach and philosophy about governance was a thing of beauty. He emanates total respect and awe for our brilliant President. I say, BRAVO Jay.

  77. It’s truly astounding, and I’m really disappointed in Simmons in this regard. His “RushCard” prepaid credit card has humongous user fees and is marketed to the poor. He profits from soaking poor people yet he is attacking President Obama for having to make concessions to the political reality of the GOP in the House and compromise on cuts?

    These are just insane times.

  78. Ecletablog: Thank you excellent I do not pay any attention to the Orange side there are a bunch a troll, republicans teabaggers pretending to be PL, and they think we are so stupid. Eclectab;og we thank you for all your help, and glad that you are on our side.

  79. Gn i glad your on why don’t you spear head a petition i was reading the comments WSY about pushing back. you are very good at making points in a civil manner. I am not good, at i might put things in a negative lite.

  80. “The company, based in Fairfield, Conn., plans to phase out tax havens over 5 years and said it will create one job in the US for each new job it creates overseas.”

    This is great news. Of course having Immelt on the competitive council is a sell-out. Imagine if each of the US based multinational corporations would pledge to do the same thing? That in itself would probably go a long way towards wiping out the deficit.

  81. Jake, I wish I had the answer to your question. My guess is that more was allocated than needed. If the money was there but wasn’t spent then the line item can be adjusted.

  83. Oh, you are so awesome!

    I laughed out loud when I read, “This new crop of “progressi­ves” who threaten to withhold their vote, when they feel that their progressiv­e virginity has been violated.

    Touche!

  84. I don’t think it is solely the criticism. Other companies don’t pay a lot of taxes and they’re not doing anything about that…

    If I’m not mistaken, President Obama has nominated the CEO of GE as the leader of a task force on jobs, no ??

    At the time, while many “progressives” were very cynical about that, I told myself that it was a brilliant move. President Obama has made the CEO of GE look at things from a different perspective. He has made this man CARE not only about himself or his company but about his country.

    When President Obama said that he wanted to appeal to people’s better angels, he wasn’t joking.

    General McCrystal asked to take some responsabilities in the “Joining Forces” campaign is another example.

    What the critics are missing in this unique, wonderful President, is that he’s working at a deeper level than a traditionnal leader. The wins on policy will happen, are happening bit by bit. But the biggest win in the long term will be how he will have transformed America’s consciousness towards less indivualism and a better sense of community.

  87. whenever you hear anyone of the black elites talk about the president look at what they are doing.

    Russel Simmon- pushing high cost pre paid credit

    Puff daddy- Pushing alcohol

    Cornell west pushing rhyming rhetoric- but he can’t push no scholarships

    Tavis Smiley- pushing books , while he helps Wells Fargo assault on the poor in these sub prime mortages.

  88. I think the corporation leaders are beginning to feel the heat from the people and are finally realizing that people are waking up and getting pretty tired of watching them just keep getting richer and richer while they impoverish the nation by cutting jobs and lowering wages all while not contributing to the common welfare through taxes. I just hope that some other companies follow their example. This also leads the way to asking for those higher taxes on the wealthiest. It shows that they don’t actually need all those tax breaks and that paying taxes doesn’t mean losing more jobs as this company shows that paying taxes and adding jobs can actually occur at the same time without harming a corporation.

  89. Dude, ‘whinging’ is so Firefly. Captain tight pants himself used that word, so it’s cool now.

  92. I think it is a tremendous asset that he understands things from the press side of the room. He knows what they are looking for and how to avoid many of the pitfalls they try to use to trip him up. He also knows how to stop them from being dishonest in their framing of questions by pointing out gently that he won’t be fooled by them. Like when he was asked snarkily by someone if he was going to answer their questions. He replied that of course he was but that he wouldn’t be revealing the content of the President’s speech today ahead of time. He made it sound respectful of their role as information gatherers but also clearly drew the line that he wouldn’t cross in a reasonable way that would only make them look foolish if they kept trying to pursue it. I think he has been an excellent choice for the position overall.

  97. The best part of using that phrase is that it has been used by the Republicans repeatedly, especially during the 2010 campaign season and it proved itself a winning appeal to voters. The republicans then, of course, proved to us all that their version of shared sacrifice means the middle and lower classes sharing the sacrifices so the richest can continue to get more rich. So they have left the true meaning, the one that appealed to so many, open for the taking by the Democrats. They can say you wanted to see shared sacrifice as a way out of our economic woes so that everyone has to give their fair share. The republicans think that only you should sacrifice but we know that everyone means the rich and the big corporations as well and we will see that they share the burden that you have been shouldering alone for so long. It’s a winning issue for sure.

  98. Oh lord, so it turns out the majority of the “cuts” in the budget deal were accounting mumbo jumbo, and Obama gets credit from most Americans for “cutting spending.” Wow. Nicely played.

    And meanwhile, in spite of all of the fainting spells from the ProLeft and the New Frustrati there’s this;

    From the most recent Daily Kos/SEIU/PPP poll (March 31-April 3, 2011):

    •86% of Liberals Have a Favorable Opinion of Pres. Obama
    •80% of Liberals Approve of Pres. Obama’s Job Performance
    •When Asked Whether Pres. Obama Is Too Liberal, Too Conservative or About Right, 67% of Liberals Said “About Right”
    •The most recent CNN/Opinion Research poll (April 9-10, 2011) has this:
    •78% of Liberals Approve of Pres. Obama’s Job Performance

    Uh, yeah. The “base” hates him. Yeah, got it. Sure.

  99. Too bad. It would have been great leadership on their part and earned them a lot of good will from the people of this nation. At least it keeps the non paying of taxes by ultra profitable companies in the headlines.

  101. I agree, pinkbunny, that we should put our energies into countering the lies of the Republicans. Who ARE the 36% who actually believe the Republican House is an improvement on the Democratic House?

  102. And if we don’t speak about them here, I predict they will eventually stop harrassing blackwaterdog. If it’s not about them, they won’t be interested. As for bumper stickers, mine is too small to be read at a distance, and 2012 takes up the major part of it, with Barack Obama in smaller letters at the bottom (though his logo is in the zero). I’ll keep my 2008 sticker for the nonce.

  103. I’ve always had issues with that business. When he first announced it I had to have second thoughts about this guy. I look at him the same way I look Magic Johnson for pushing Rent A Center and payday loans. I now look at the cbc the same way after they blocked the Obama administration from regulating those for profit schools. Those same for profit schools that have been ripping off minorities and military folks. How can anyone of these people talk about helping the poor when they prey on them for profit?

  104. Unfortunately this is a fake press release. AP has just killed the story. It has been reported as a fraud by CNBC andBloomburg.

  105. Don’t even bother pointing out to these critics that within the Dem party is approval rating is lowest amongst Conservative Democrats. Isn’t Obama supposed to be a Right Wing-Democrat- DINO-DLC-Republican?

  106. Though I agree that the Congressional Dems are not much help at all, I also agree with japa, that we need to make sure they are in office rather than Republicans, even those who are the most wishy-washy. Most Blue Dogs still voted with the Democratic agenda most of the time, and it is important to have the majority in both Houses so as to have committee chairmanships and control over the agenda. First more Dems and then better Dems. It’s not a short haul.

  109. Greetings everyone

    So much good news. Donna Dem the news about the GE refund is just so cool. 3.2 billion – whoo hoo.

    I saw the John Stewart Show from yesterday (I know he can be annoying and many folks don’t watch him), but this show was good.

    He showed how removing Bush tax cuts would reduce the deficit and took a jab at how Republicans are treating seniors now compared t how they treated them when the Health Care bill was introduced.

    http://www.thedailyshow.com/videos

    Second video on page shows how taxes could reduce deficit.

    He also has an interview with Deval Patrick.

  110. Congratulations, mtmarilyn. There are upsides to aging (I like to think that more wisdom is part of that, though watching the Teapartiers gives one pause . . .).

  112. I just love how all of these black folk like Diddy and Simmons, Corny, Tavis and the rest can stand up to the President and create fake controversy but they never stood up and talked trash about any of the other white presidents.

    Just like the Congressional Black Caucus sitting in the fetal position at the sight of Bush.

    They have no courage standing up to a white president but now that we have a black president they are on the attack.

  113. Reading the comments about how folks take jabs at the president for not protecting the poor, I was thinking of making that my video for next week.

    I know someone a few weeks ago published information on all the things the President has done for the poor, if that could be re-posted or a link sent, I will use it as a basis for the next video. I will make it like the one I made about women’s issues.

    One final note, I will share my bullet points with the group before making the video. In the women’s video I mistakenly listed Hillary as the first woman secretary of state. Thanks to those of you who pointed out the error. I have a revised version of the video on my blog now. Having you guys as editors is a big help.

  114. Fine remark, wesleya. I believe that short-term thinking is the fatal flaw in our culture and we must do everything we can to counteract it.

  115. LP, yes, It turns out that a DK poster figured out that there were more votes cast than there were actual ballots, and that this fraud by the same Republican woman has been going on since at least 2004. I have to say that investigative stuff like this is what DK used to be excellent for until the trolls arrived and destroyed the place. The Feds have been called in to investigate this election and probably the previous ones.

  116. Thank you for this information, gobrooklyn. I had no idea cbc blocked regulating for-profit schools. smh. I also had no idea about the Magic’s business relationships with those companie, or Simmons and the RushCard.

  117. Good question, Jake. Perhaps you could present it to your representatives in Congress? Or to the White House? I believe they are required to answer (though I have found their “answers” are seldom really answers).

  118. Exactly, japa, co-opt people like Immelt. Much more will be accomplished than it would through rigid confrontations.

  119. I did believe it because I do have undying faith that down deep everyone wants to be cooperative and compassionate, even though I am repeatedly proven wrong.

  121. I don’t know if this has been mentioned here already, but I was just over at the ObamaDiary and saw a post from Proud of Obama. She said her husband has died unexpectedly.

    Please send prayers and good wishes!!

  122. True.
    Plus I don’t want to cut off my nose to spite my face, which is what I would be doing.
    I’m still pissed at the lack of pushback from the Congressional Democrats. I think I will channel my anger into writing them letters to let them know how I feel. I received correspondence from the DSCC yesterday looking for me to renew my membership. I think I will use this opportunity to write them and explain why I feel disappointed in their actions and why I am currently withholding financial support.

  123. I was always amazed at the great press the Clintons had in regard to minority issues? What did they ever do for minorities except hang out with them?

  129. Oh, no. I hope she has family and friends around her for comfort. My deepest sympathy.

  130. When the populace shows some interest in eradicating poverty, I believe our better politicians will take up the banner. Poverty is the responsibility of all of us, though the issue is staggering. Here in Milwaukee, the most segregated city in the US, the poverty rate among the African-American community is 50%. We must all stand up repeatedly and demand that our politicians, our business communities, and our citizens address this. We need extended health care access, expanded educational resources from birth on up, extensive job training programs, and integrated communities.

  131. Don’t let it worry you. I bounce back and forth now between Euro and Murrican and have my spell-checker so confused it went on strike last week.

  133. I got mine too. It goes nicely with the “Got Hope?” sticker that’s still on there from ’08.

  134. mtmarilyn – Happy 65th! That’s a number I’ll reach in October. Viva the original baby boomers! Congratulations to ya.

  135. Too bad Walker doesn’t belong to a union – they’d stand by him (snark).

  136. Good idea, TrumpDog. I wonder if letters have more weight than emails. Of course, I think it is okay to send the same email day after day, as I believe the staff simply takes a count of how many stand on one side of an issue and how many stand on the other, so perhaps the repetition will not be noticed. Of course, most issues are too complex to have only two sides.

  137. Wow…sorry about posting it BWD. I would have thought that the AP sourced their stories before printing them. I guess I was wrong. 😦

  138. OMG listening to Boehner and McConnell right now gags me. They are fully in bed with the Tyrant-baggers.

    Now Cantor speaks in tandem. NO RAISING TAXES!

    You all speak for me on so many levels today. Our President is up against a swarm of cockroaches in Congress. He has my highest respect for taking this job. I knew it would be a cesspool when any Dem wanted to lead.

    McConnell is THE Senate poster boy for bigoted white, pasty-assed bullshitters, isn’t he? Ugly old man with an ugly heart. Especially he has an ugly heart

    Yeah, I’m pissed. Sorry for my ugly rant, but… Let’s hope I’m not the only one who can see through these people who are mis-representing America!

    And WHERE are the Democrats this morning on the steps of Congress??????? WHERE are they? If they can’t speak up for Obama, they damn well better be huddled in the back room sharpening their minds about how to deal with this cabal!

    That Presser briefing from Carney is pitch perfect. I try to see most of them Did anyone read the ugly remarks on that YouTube page? Look at their blatently bigoted usernames. I should never read the comments. 😦

    GO OBAMA! I stand by you hard as rocks!

  140. Can I tell you how much I hate the PL’s take on “moving the Overton Window”? I don’t think they even know what they’re saying. One moves the country in a more liberal direction by actually doing things — ACA, FinReg, raising Pell Grants, etc. Bloviating just pisses people off; I just want to throttle people who tell me I’m not a “true liberal” because I’m not upset that there’s no pony in my back yard. I hope that we can retire that awful phrase soon.

  141. And screw Laura O’Donnell with her review of her interview with President Obama’s sister. “Do you think he’s happy?” “You seem to hesitate [with your answer]…”

    Now she’s setting him up as being the unhappy
    President? Did she ever ask Dubya’s family members if he was happy? With her shit-eating grin on her face?

    I think I need time out and will wait to hear from our President.

  142. Oh, OSG, you have just made me gleeful. A) the GOP is being hoisted on its own petard, and B) Koch money has gone to complete incompetents. Money can do only so much; as the old programming saw goes, “garbage in, garbage out”.

  143. I am convinced there is a direct correlation between people who thought they should have been invited to the White House by now, and their bashing of PBO. You could probably graph it and get a beautiful, direct line, LOL.

    That’s probably Donald Trump’s petty problem, too. He’s extremely vindictive and easily bruised.

    These idiots feel they should be in some inner circle, but they’re not, so their little egos are bruised and they’re acting out like children. Especially since a lot of them were Friends of Bill and Hillary back in the 90s. Ha!

  145. Eclectablog, I agree this is not easy. But I wonder if at least some prominent voices, who are not hampered by anger issues, would be reachable.

    Jane, Glen G, Cenk are a lost cause. But I think people like Joan Walsh, Rachel Maddow, Ezra Klein should be made aware of articles like rootless’s last piece. Why not try to make them step out of their own echo chamber and make them read some of the more pragmatic blogs that are popping up everywhere ?

    If many people send them those articles, those links, who knows… it might have an effect. It’s worth the try.

    I would add : let’s do it in a non confrontational way, expressing our concerns about the present situation, asking them to reconsider certain of their assumptions, etc… Because if they feel “under attack” they’ll dig in their heels. Human nature.

  147. We criticize the frustrati for aiming most of their vitriol at the Democrats rather than the Republicans, but we do a bit of that here in our constant discussions about the PL and the blogosphere. Why is this so fascinating to us? The media PL does have some power, and it is understandable to wish them to use it more productively, but the frustrati in the blogosphere has little power, if any; very little charm and/or wit; and are certainly devoid of winning personality traits. Why do we fret about them? I have wasted plenty of energy doing so myself, but I assure you, if you simply ignore them, they will fade into the nonentities that they are in reality. One can actually move about in most circles of the real world and never encounter their ilk. We want to build on our positive energy in the hopes of improving our culture. There are so many fine, intelligent, humanitarian people on this site and the other progressive sites that have sprung up recently (e.g. Blue Wave News and The People’s View). We have been given great opportunities by blackwaterdog, Elise and Leanne of Blue Wave News, deaniac, etc., for a productive exchange of ideas regarding the long-term solutions to our society’s deepseated problems. If those of us who do not have great ideas on how to make changes ourselves (and I am not the kind of practical person that does), we at least have the kind of supportive natures that can encourage those here who do have those ideas. Let’s expend most of our energies in that direction. Get better politicians elected and then move on to pushing them to take steps and to take steps ourselves to eradicate the obscenities in our society: poverty, war, lack of access to excellent education and health care, nuclear weapons, environmental pollution, civil rights violations, injustice — the list is endless but not insuperable.

  148. May I suggest we all adjust our dialogue? Our goal is to re-elect President Obama, and to support progress in America and the world.

    OFA training taught me to keep messages positive; and the pictures and many stories here are exactly on message. All of the books I’ve seen on political persuasion say the same thing: positive, appeal to emotion, positive, concrete stories, positive, images, positive, and so on.

    Comments here that denigrate the value of other Democrats are not helpful. President Obama cannot pass legislation–he can sign or veto, but he cannot pass it, so please don’t devalue Congress. We need Democrats and all reasonable legislators. We need people to the left and to the right of me–and people to the left and right of you, too. So, don’t be in love with a commentator one week, and hate her the next.

    And avoid using negative words in the same sentence as the name of people we want to support. When you deny a charge, all you do is reinforce the negative meme.

    Remember “I am not a crook!”? Denial does not help. Nor does associating words like “weak” or “cave” or all sorts of sexist words with people and causes we care about.

    Please try to be as positive, as sunny, and as smart as our president. We need to keep our eyes on the prize.

    Thanks, BWD, for what you do. Thanks today for that nice video of the press briefing; the 28:40 comments illustrate what I am trying to say here: keep focused on the goal.

    Joe

  149. I have been invited to a bloggers’ conference call with David Plouffe and likely Dan Pfeiffer and Brian Deese (from the NEC) to discuss the President’s speech later today.

    I hope to have a full report up afterwards or tomorrow a.m.

  150. I seem to remember when Kanye said Bush “didn’t care about black people” it was a scandal! Even folks like Cornel West and tavis Smiley got the vapors. But now, Smiley and West say the same thing about Obama all the time and actually get angry when people disagree with them!

  151. Well said, Sheila. I have noticed a little more move in the direction you indicate. When this site first opened up, I would guess that 80-90% of the comments were directed against the frustrati. It is less. There are more and more specific comments about what the republcians are doing and there have been some good ideas about how to move forward with the 2012 elections just being around the corner. So I think we are heading there. Sometimes a person has to vent, and I think this has been, for many, one of the safe places to do so.

  154. This is the kind of disconnect that makes me shake my head;

    Today from a well known, “progressive” anti-Obama blog;

    “I do believe this (deficit speech) is his absolute last chance with anything resembling his base (as opposed to his own paid retainers).”

    And of course, reality in the form of a poll;

    •86% of Liberals Have a Favorable Opinion of Pres. Obama
    •80% of Liberals Approve of Pres. Obama’s Job Performance

    What are some people smoking? I want some.

  155. I think you touched upon one factor in the troubles PBO has with the press. Let’s never forget that Barak Obama was an outsider and hadn’t forged any alliances with people in the Beltway, in the Village. Let’s not believe for a minute that he’s not paying any price for the way he ascended to the presidency.

  156. We should be able to trust a large organization like the AP to source their news before releasing it. It is just one more sign of the downfall of our news media.

  157. Honestly, it reminds me of the difference between the “Inner Party” and the “Outer Party” in “1984”. The whingers believe they’re part of the “Inner Party”, that they’re the elite who have the solution to all of the country’s problems, that they have information that PBO or the Dem leadership don’t, or don’t act on. The rest of us are just slobbering proles who need to be led around by our hands, otherwise we’ll trip over ourselves.

  158. bwd, would you consider creating a pundit-free space for speech analysis? I see that once again some wonderful bwd people are reaching PL saturation point, and this would be a terrific means of allowing them to opt out of it without having to continue the unresolvable conflict about ignoring versus confronting misinformation.

    I don’t want to be presumptuous, but just a thought.

  160. Make sure you let them know we’re not all nutroot fringe, but there is a growing moderate blogosphere that detests MSNBC and extremes in both parties.

  161. They keep trying to erode support for the president but it isn’t working out for them. If anything their ranting makes his approval ratings go up among real liberals. People hear the ridiculous criticisms from them and just like when they hear the silliness from the right, it motivates them to find out the truth. When they do, they are even more impressed with the president.

  163. You may be right. There are a lot of people who highly overrate their own importance and the openness of the president makes them think he will of course be consulting them right away for their awesome thoughts and their oh so important influence. When they don’t get that special attention that validates what they think of themselves they turn on him.

  165. That is a huge problem for the Obama admin. Many of the Democrat pundits on TV are Clintonistas who were hoping for jobs in the Hillary administration. So, they are just as anti-Obama as the Republican pundits.

  166. Hi GN, I love the pundit free space idea, I really have successfully made peace with the MSM, their opinion is irrelevent to me now.

  167. Congratulations Eclectablog! I’m so happy to know you have a chance to be on that call and represent the views of so many of us. I know you will do a great job!

  170. Just lately all we seem to be doing is going at it over the aggravations ‘they’ provide!Please let’s remind ourselves of why we are here,as in
    a) positive discourse and news and views that uplifts,elevates, and yes, we do enjoy the aura of this familial space.
    b) Even if ‘they’ do what they do, which ‘they’ will, we have a choice i.e in NOT giving them power over us because this brings us down. (I notice that I get very negative after posts about them, and they do get mentioned all the time,plus it makes bwd’s mailbox inundated with evil!)
    c) Tackle them outside of here, on twitter, or at their sites,but NOT in this space.
    d) They really are not that important, no matter what they write,say,do,as we cannot force them to NOT think what they think. If they are stuck..they are stuck!
    e) Keep the faith everyone, remember the higher good!

  171. Super-awesome, Eclectablog! We’ll be waiting to hear from you… don’t keep up waiting too long! 🙂

  172. It is stunning to see the way they dismiss the vast majority of liberals in their drive to present themselves as the “real base”. It’s like the “real Americans” of Sarah Palin. I’m pretty sick and tired of being told I’m not only not a real American by the right, but not a real liberal by some on the left.

  174. YESSSSSSSS! Thank you for the info overseasgranny ! I had missed it completely.

  175. I understand what you are saying and I don’t want this place to be nothing but a site that rants about the PL. However, we all have different needs. Some people need to vent their frustration and want to call us all to directly counter misinformation before it takes a firm hold on the public mind. Others want to only concentrate on the positive, believing that ignoring the negative will give it less oxygen and accomplish the same goal that way.

    I think a combination of both approaches is needed. We can’t just completely ignore the misinformation no matter which side of the aisle it comes from as we have an all too complicit media who are happy to spread that misinformation as if it were factual so countering it is necessary. If we don’t know what information is being spread it is hard to counter that.

    However, we also need to spend most of our time spreading factual and hopeful news so that we are creating our own memes at the same time we are striking down the bad ones.

    I don’t think it’s possible to be only a good news site that ignores unfair criticism from the left if we want to be effective but we also need to keep a good sense of proportion in how much time we spend discussing it and keep our main focus on spreading the positive accomplishments of the administration and fighting the republicans. It’s a difficult balance so thanks for helping remind us when we go too far in one direction.

  176. So it was a hoax ? Wow egg on my face.

    However, I still believe what I said about how President Obama wants to transform America.

  177. Wow, having the CEO of GE as part of the Obama’s business leadership commission is paying off. They wouldn’t have gotten half the bad press if the CEO wasn’t part of the Obama admin.

    I love it. That is great news and will result in additional tax revenue for the US government and create additional US jobs.

  178. Lucky for us there is OFA who has been teaching us how to actually organize and be empowered and not need those whiners any more.

  179. WIW, unfortunately the GE story is a hoax. Too bad… Maybe one day we’ll have a story like this which will be TRUE. Who knows…

    Congratulations for your GREAT, great work !

  180. Well, they stand to make more money and raise their profile by smearing the Obama administration. Agreeing with Obama, doesn’t give you a place on PL tv shows, radio shows, etc.

  181. I’m fortunate that a lot of OFA national staffers read my blog (including Jeremy Bird and Natalie Foster) so they know we’re out here, for sure.

  183. Frankly, I wish that we would stop obssessing about the PL. I don’t care what they are saying because I know what they are going to say. I visit this blog to get positivie news about the President and the accomplishments of his administration. I also visit this site for ideas as to what wecan do to get the President reelected and the other Democrats who are down ticket.

  184. I think that it would be a good idea to have threads which cater to both points of view so that people can opt in and out of certain type of content at their leisure. Sometimes the PL stuff gets to me too, and I reach a saturation point beyond which my remarks towards them are going to be just nasty. Sometimes I can deal with what they’re doing more rationally and like to participate in those conversations.

    Having some discussion threads with no pundit and PL analysis, and some with, would satisfy everyone.

  186. It does seem hard to reach a group of people who constantly post things like he’s Bush2 , a warmonger, firmly in the pockets of banks, drugs co.s and HI co.s. ect. If they can get from the life he lived until he bacame President to him now being owned by one or all of their boogymen, then I dont see how they can see the light.

  187. Whoo-hoo! Nice to see a pragmatic progressive getting invited. Can’t wait to hear your scoop and I hope you have an excellent ? to ask Plouffe.

  188. “Waukesha — Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus, under blistering attack by critics since an election night reporting error that temporarily reversed results of the Supreme Court race, on Tuesday rejected calls that she resign.”

    “I will serve the remainder of my term,” Nickolaus said in a written statement. “I understand why people are upset and I am taking this matter seriously. Again, I am sorry for my mistake.”

    “Earlier Tuesday, Waukesha County Democratic Party Chairman Victor Weers said in a news release that not only has the clerk’s vote-counting and reporting process produced problems, but ‘Ms. Nicholaus (sic) has willfully ignored pleas to repair her broken reporting process in an open and technologically reliable way.'”

    //

    “Melissa Mulliken, the campaign manager for Kloppenburg, said, ‘Whatever she does in the future doesn’t change the legitimate questions that exist about what she did last week. Our focus continues to be what happened in Waukesha on the 5th and 6th and 7th of April. That’s the issue.'”

    http://www.jsonline.com/news/waukesha/119691584.html

  189. “Embattled Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus posted a clarification to her web page after a blogger pointed out Tuesday that election results listed for Nov. 7, 2006, races on the county clerk’s elections results web page showed about 20,000 more votes than ballots cast in some races.”

    “Asked about the blog report, she told the Journal Sentinel via email: ‘The answer to your question is that the number of ballots cast on the summary report will not equal the number of votes cast. It only reflects the votes reported electronically to the office. I have added an asterisk with this clarification to the webpage.'”

    “A blog posting on The Daily Kos stated the results showed 156,804 total ballots cast in Waukesha County for the 2006 election, but that there were 174,047 total votes in the race for attorney general between Republican J.B Van Hollen and Democrat Kathleen Falk.”

    The blogger noted that Van Hollen won the statewide race by 8,859 votes. “Waukesha county, Kathy Nickolaus’ playground, reports 17,243 more votes cast for the Attorney General race in Waukesha county than there were total number of ballots cast,” the blog post states.

    “How many more of those ‘extra’ 17,243 votes were for Van Hollen than were for Kathleen Falk?? I’m guessing it’s somewhere right about 8,900 votes,” the blogger states.

    http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/119732209.html

  190. “Oshkosh Deputy Mayor Jessica King announced Wednesday that she’d challenge state Sen. Randy Hopper if the state finds recall signatures filed last week to be sufficient.”

    “It will be the second faceoff for the two. Hopper edged King by less than 200 votes in 2008, after a recount. The Oshkosh Northwestern reported the announcement a little while ago.”

    “King’s the second Democrat to declare her interest in a seat held by a Republican state senator with recall petitions filed against him….”

    http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/119778539.html

  191. Absolutely, japa. I think there are many fine intellects here and on the other progressive sites I listed, and I want to build on their positive ideas. I admit, I am too lazy (or, as I like to think, too occupied) to do the kind of research that some do here, you included, and I appreciate getting information from people I trust.

  195. Good idea, gn. As I have often said, it is my response to the frustrati that I find the most objectionable. They’re just people who channel their frustrations into the political blogosphere. We all have our preferred modes of channeling frustration, though I do believe a primary challenge of being a good human is to learn to channel it productively, though it’s not easy.

  196. Congratulations on getting your bumper sticker! I really, really want a 2012 t-shirt! Someone mentioned that a donation will get you one! I am off to see if that’s true!

    I agree with you regarding the PL, we have to take vacations from them to maintain your sanity.

  198. I really think so. And thus everyone gets content of their liking without having to feel as if others are trying to control what they’re saying. Win-win IMO.

  199. I know precisely how you feel. I read about something especially egregious last night/this morning, and my response was extremely negative. Not a good feeling. So I hope that the dual threads idea would just accommodate everyone’s point of view, as there are valid points to be made in both directions.

  201. I personally don’t think that POTUS’ actions or speeches cause this problem or can solve it. Know why there’s a problem? Not because people haven’t from time to time credited this POTUS. It’s because they get in front of issues like this, and use “preemptive criticism” to accuse POTUS of doing things which he has said over and over and over and over again that he has no intention of doing. They yell “catfood commission,” except when did POTUS ever say that it was okay with him to create impoverished seniors? They yell sellout and betrayer except it’s based on creative, and sometimes outright dishonest interpretations of events.

    It all forms a narrative which is toxic.

    I personally do not trust analysis from people who behave this way, because they will do it again, and they will do it at crucial moments. Much better to continue to maintain spaces which do not entertain this sort of sophistry, challenge the misinformation, and then put them on ignore entirely, because otherwise we’re going to end up wasting a metric ton of time on people who aren’t even the base. At least that’s my two cents.

  204. Eclectablog, please pass on from me for what it is worth – PBO hit that one right out of the ballpark. Superb. Terrific. Clear. Forceful. Direct. Informative. Yes, he can.

  205. Turns out – surprise – that 8,900 votes took Prosser exactly to the point where there would not be a recount. Isn’t that interesting?

  206. “The President used the topic of deficit reduction to paint the Republicans as pessimists who have no faith in America. This represents a return to the theme of hope and optimism that powered Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign. It is also something deeper. Obama was appealing to the emotions associated with patriotism. The President was once again appealing to the collective American better angels.”

    “Obama was not talking about policy, but doing what is right. Obama did what many in politics feel is impossible. He went beyond the billions and trillions, and sold his deficit reduction plan as something simple, doing what is right. By framing his plan as the right thing to, any critic that blasts Obama’s plan will be on the “wrong” side for America.”

    “Surprisingly this was a speech that avoided the dullness of statistics, and instead focused on asking our people what kind of country do we want America to be?”

    “Make no mistake about it. Obama was definitely attacking the Republican vision of American, and he was attacking their patriotism. Obama placed the discussion into a very familiar dynamic, right vs. wrong, optimism vs. pessimism, and selfishness vs patriotism. Obama was setting up his 2012 campaign as a choice between two America’s, one of hope and optimism, or another of pessimism and inequality.”

    “The President was defining patriotism as something that was missing from the GOP budget plan. Since Republicans have so gleefully taken up the cause for “them,” Obama was more than happy to speak for “us,” and lay out his vision of a hopeful patriotic America.”

    http://www.politicususa.com/en/obama-deficit-patriotism

  207. And I do understand that some people are inspired to organize their thoughts by all the conflict, even though I am not such a person.

  208. If this doesn’t cry out for a DoJ investigation, I don’t know what does.

  209. Done!

    I have cousins there – 2 teachers at the U and a nurse, all union, so I get updates daily.

  210. Case in point…

    “With the entire GOP leadership by his side, all of them are now attached to Ryan’s “Path to Destruction” budget proposal.”

    “Boehner: I fully support Paul Ryan’s budget including his efforts on Medicare.”

    “This should be turned into an endless amount of commercials for the upcoming 2012 election. Earlier today it was reported that the GOP is squirming over Ryan’s plan:

    Some Republicans are already squirming over a vote that provides a ready-made campaign ad for their opponents: Rep. Paul Ryan’s fiscal 2012 budget, which will restructure Medicare, alter Medicaid funding and slash $6 trillion from federal spending over 10 years.

    Whether they’re new lawmakers in formerly Democratic seats or House veterans who represent districts with large elderly populations dependent on Medicare, a significant number of Republicans realize that embracing the Ryan plan may be one of the most treacherous votes of the year.”

    “So rather than taking a strong stand, they’re hedging during the leadup to the roll call. Rep. Tim Murphy, a fifth-term Republican who represents a western Pennsylvania district south of Pittsburgh with roughly 17 percent of residents older than 65, is still undecided. Susan Mosychuk, Murphy’s chief of staff, said it’s a ‘high-profile vote’ that they are ‘still taking a look at.'”

    http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/john-boehner-declares-his-love-and-supp

  211. What a welter of good news. Yes, the GOPers really will have to vote to put seniors on cat food. That will not go over well, no matter how they vote: piss off the seniors, or piss off the teabaggers. I wonder if the Koch Bros. are wondering just what their money bought. They can’t be happy with the return on investment so far.

  212. Good things come in three’s:

    Israel’s attorney general has announced that the foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, will be indicted on corruption charges but will be allowed a standard final hearing before he is charged.

    Lieberman, a hardline member of Binyamin Netanyahu’s cabinet, has been under investigation on various charges for years.

    The attorney general’s office said Lieberman would be indicted on charges of fraud, breach of trust, aggravated fraud, money laundering and harassing a witness.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/13/avigdor-lieberman-israel-corruption-charges

  213. Good. Lieberman was the closest thing there was to a fascist in a Western democracy — and I’m being a bit kind by saying “closest thing”, since from what I’ve read of him he pretty much is an out and out fascist.

  214. And probably the biggest obstruction to peace in the ME there was. Bet that news added to PBO’s day.

  215. that is a great response, makesense4tulips…can i use it? Promise I will give you credit.

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